The Violence Revolution — Winkie Pratney

The Fourfold Repetition of Barabbas

We're going to do a seminar on the violence revolution. There is a story in the Bible that's repeated four times. I believe it's a tremendously important story because if God ever says something four times, you know, he wants us to listen to it.

Did that your mother ever say to you something four times? My mother used to have four different levels of volume that she used to say things to me. She used to say Winky come in and I'd be working out in my lab doing something, you know.

And she'd say Winky come in and I would just say all right, I'm coming. You know, that was level one. That was all right, and then five minutes would go past and I'd still be working while she'd say Winky I told you to come in and I knew I had three minutes in see.

I said, all right. All right, I'll be right there just Say and then another couple of minutes went past and then she hit a third pitch. Yeah, you know it went up. I can't get as high as she would and Then I knew I only had about a minute left of grace thing and I said I'll be right there tell me my I'll be right.

There I'd work away, you know, and then once you hit a number four, it was ultrasonic. Look up there very loud windows breaking all over the place. Then I knew I had to come in or there was trouble now whenever somebody says to you something four times.

I think you can understand that it's supposed to be important and This is exactly what God gives us a story here. There's very few stories or illustrations of powers that are repeated four times in all full gospel Matthew Mark Luke and John.

But here we have a story in the Bible that's repeated four times and it's a story of a man that I call a violence revolutionary. You'll see a story in the book of Mark. Here is Pilate. The feast he released unto them one prisoner whomsoever they desired and there was one named Barabbas.

Which laid down with them that had made insurrection with him who had committed murder in the insurrection or the revolution we'd call it today and The multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.

But Pilate answered them saying will you that I release to you the king of the Jews? For he knew the chief priests had delivered him. This is Jesus for envy. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them and Pilate answered and said again to them What will you then that I shall do unto him and you call the king of the Jews and I cried out again Crucify him.

Then Pilate said to them why what evil has he done and they cried out the more exceedingly Crucify him so Pilate willing to content the people Released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified.

I Want to take you this morning The imagination to the hills above the city before this event takes place that it's repeated both in Mark and I've give you an Giving you another important part here in Luke for you to look up.

It's also on the television screens for you to look at. I'm going to take you in imagination to the hills above a city. Young man here is gathering together a group of revolutionary now they Deeply serious young people that committed young people their weapons being thrust into hands that have been stockpiled.

Barabbas and the Roots of Violent Revolution

And these kids are not playing games. They've made pilot raids before made the trial equivalent of a bombing or two. They're deadly serious deeply committed. They hate the system that has taken control of the people and they want to see this torn down and destroyed and the enemy of people are the throne the city is Jerusalem the Radicals a group called the zealots and their leader a young man called Barabbas the time 2 ,000 years ago approximately.

As we read stories like this in the Bible that gives us some encouraging news revolutions are not new. They're never been new. We've had them before and we're fast heading to have another one at this time at this nation.

I'm Interested in revolutions, and I'm specially interested in revolutionary because I've asked myself over the last years I've been in this nation. What is it that makes a young man into a violent? Revolutionary what makes a young man into a radical who hits the streets with his bombs and with his ideas to change things.

Some people say well, it's because the rotten system around them. That's why they want to see the system change. It's an idea in this and it's basically this but the system around you Makes people the way to have you didn't have a rotten system, then people would be beautiful in their own way.

See, I don't happen to agree with that. I don't think the Bible does either but a lot of people say well kids become radicals because they feel the problems of Poverty and race and ecology and and so they get into to trying changing it.

Sometimes I try to do it violently. Sometimes I try to do it by more peaceful means. Maybe maybe Barabbas here this guy we're talking about had reason to see change. He had seen a lot of poverty and he's certainly seen a lot of cruelty as Rome came in and Completely conquered the people of Israel just ruled them with military might and power.

He may have seen one welfare check too many and all this but I don't really believe That most of the revolutionaries and most of the young radicals in the new left and SDS that I talk with. Simply get into this violent thing because of the rottenness of the system.

I think there are deeper reasons than that. Maybe this young man Barabbas Just didn't fit in maybe just didn't fit in. I'm thinking of one young man like this. He didn't fit in he just didn't felt like anybody ever accepted him or he felt part of the major group.

He just felt like an oddball an odd man out. I know this young man I'm thinking about this belong to a despised minority group. Now. We've had a lot of despised minority groups in history before depends on the nation you're in as to which despised minority group you're in but Lot of kids in minority groups have to push twice as fast and grab twice as hard to hold on to what they've got.

But this young man that I'm thinking of belong to what is possibly the most despised minority group of all history. Say this young man was a Jew. Not too many people like Jews in Germany where he was born.

Can you imagine what it's like here is his dad? He's a Jewish businessman living in Germany in the time. It's not too popular to be a Jew. So what do you think his dad did? Dad sent him off to a religious school said listen.

We're going to go to church set up a business this way. So he sent his son off to a religious school. Christian school and this kid wasted four years. They're looking at his father. They never really loved God.

They just adopted religion as a quote for his business selfishness and the kid looked at all this. He looked at all this hypocrisy and for four long years He wasted his time in this school. The last paper that young man wrote was a paper called on the union of the believer with Christ.

He never experienced that union he talked about because his eyes Had seen hypocrisy and he rejected the whole thing and just four years later. You've heard the words of this young man, I'll tell you in a little while I think you can learn a lesson from this.

Just going to a religious class or going to a religious school cannot make you a better person. Now my parents were business people and when I was little they had the same idea. They weren't Christians, but we'd been baptized good Episcopalians.

And we went to church at least Easter time and Christmas and what more could you ask? But they figured well the kids need to go to Sunday school, you know, we're not heathen or anything. So they sent us off to Sunday school, man.

There's only one thing I liked about Sunday school. I had this Kool-Aid cookies and punch trip that they ran through first before you got the sermon. You'd all sit down, you know. And and I'd grab myself a handful of goodies and I'd split before the guy got to the rotten part.

Which was a sermon where he'd say now you all you know. You're better if you want to go to heaven when you die, you're gonna have to be better people, you know. And I'd always split before he got to that part, but I got a handful of goodies.

That's about all religion ever did for me. I Think you learn a lesson from this religion cannot make you a better person. No religious class. No religious teaching can make you a better man. And this kid finally after wasting his time all these years He finally hung it all up and he hung it up with bitterness and just a few years later He wrote these words religion is the opiate of the people man makes religion and they called him Karl Marx and he laid the foundation of what is today the violence revolution.

Rejection, Marginalization, and Radicalization

Maybe Barabbas had another reason for being a revolutionary. Maybe somebody heard him. I've seen this happen all too often. I think of a young man who walked into Baltimore. He was an African. He was studying at a university here in the United States.

He'd come over it come over to study and he walked into this hotel In Baltimore, and he said could I have a drink of water, please and the man pointed to a spittoon on the floor. He said sure drink all you want.

That young man went back to Africa. Nobody reached Swami Nakruma in time and he began his own revolution. I Think of another young man who walked Through the schools of learning of this country went to some of the finest technological training schools this country has to offer.

But as far as we know as he walked all through those schools. No family no religious family ever took the trouble to invite him even home for a meal. Let alone invite him to church or to some place where he could hear the real story of the gospel.

And all those years he walked got more and more bitter until finally he began to hate this nation. And he put together All this technology and he went back overseas. And I think this young man is one of the most dangerous young men in the world today.

Because he was American technology is heading up the red Chinese interconnect intercontinental ballistic missile program. I met a young man back in California we were having a rally one time in a large place and I turned it over to questions for the kids.

This young man come up to me said let me ask you a question. I said, yeah, what is it? He said can you be a Christian be a communist or Marxist? I said, well, no, not if you know what Marxism is. He said thank you.

And I thought to myself, what did he ask that question? He's a kid from a church Church that believes in Pentecostal things too. I went and saw this tall young man afterwards. I said, why did you ask that question?

He said because I'm a communist. I Said do you know what you're talking about? He said yes, I do. We got into two hour long discussion. I These kids were gonna to us and he asked these kids personally, what's your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Miss one kid said well. He says I don't really think much about him. He says I don't even know whether I I believe in God or not and the guy says what are you doing in this choir? Then he said well, I need me.

I'm a good bass guitarist and if they don't have me. They're not going to be able to have good music. He said we don't need non-christian people singing about Jesus. He said you get cleaned up. Are you late?

You know blue the guy's mind he's See he went away for a couple of days and his friends all started getting cleaned up in the choir and one of them came Back and led him to God. He came back and he said to my friend.

He said you just got me in time. He said we started a little chapter on our high school campus and our next project a radical chapter. He said our next project was to blow up one of the high school auditoriums as part and parcel of a radicalization of the school.

Now I'm talking about kids who come from churches kids who've seen miracles. And this is a scary thing to me. Maybe somebody heard him the guy I'm thinking of now believed in God when he was little. He came from an upper middle class like Karl Marx and he went to church out of habit like so many kids do.

Because that was the thing to do and his family expected him to do one day saying in church. He got to be about 16 16 lot of guys start thinking about girls because they're out suddenly. They discovered that this creatures in the world kill girls so He decided to miss church a couple of times to see this particular girlfriend of his this bothered his dad.

No end my son is giving up going to church. So what the dad did he went over and he got a priest. He called the priest over to his house. He said listen. My son is is not coming to church so often. He said what should I do about it?

The priest said this to him well, I got a good suggestion you just get a stick and you whip that kid and you whip them and you whip them some all and You keep on whipping him till he learns his lesson.

You make sure that he comes like that and what he didn't know is this kid was next door. Listening to a crack in the door and that kid got so mad. He ripped the cross off his neck and slammed it on the floor.

He's just 16 years old and that was it as far as this kid was concerned for church for God for religion for everything. He hung the whole thing up. We learn another lesson. I think in this young man. No church can make you love God.

No rabbi no priest of preaching a minister. No pastor can make you or force you love to love God. And right on top of it this young man when he's still 16 his brother got captured by the government of the country and he was taken away and his brother was hung for treason right before this young man's eyes.

You know what it's like to be hurt so bad and so deeply that you hate the world and everything in it. I've worked on the streets. I've worked with kids long before there was any radical violent revolution here setting up.

I've walked and talked with kids who've been bitter and hurt and they just gone around smashing windows because you're so mad at things. Remember talking to a young man in Detroit. His name was Dale. I met him in the street.

I was talking to some of his friends first and Dale wore these shades. And these dark shades that covered his face and the only thing about Dale was this. He only came out at about 11 o 'clock at night.

He worked all night and then he disappeared at about 5 or 6 in the morning and he never came out all during the day. I Came up to Dale and I heard a lot about him from his friends. I talked to one of his friends his friends name was John and John was a karate campus.

Hands were all calloused from karate and stuff and I said who is this guy Dale? He said well. He said Dale is really a rough guy and these are his actual words. I said is he really as tough as people say is he said well without his knife.

He said I think I could take down myself, but he said when he gets that knife in his hands. He made it himself. It's a switchblade and he polished and cut and ground himself and sprung himself. He said when he gets that switchblade in his hands.

Dale is a big big man. And these were his actual words. He said if you mess with Dale you find yourself holding your guts in your hands. And I said Don't think I'd like to meet Dale. But anyway one night we're in this coffee bar and Dale comes in he's got his shades on and we found out.

We were taking his business. We're leading all these girls who prostitutes to Christ and We found out he was the one who ran the prostitution house then he comes in. He's wearing this long-sleeved silk Hawaiian shirt, and he just doesn't say anything.

He just leans against the wall and he's watching and I'm supposed to be running this thing. So I go, you know with my glossy smile. Hello. And he just doesn't say anything. He's just you know, he just looks at me, you know with these shades on.

And he finally takes his glasses off, you know, and he I know he wears his shades his eyes were like a snake. Bright shiny and they just watch you hard like diamonds, you know. And look at me and I said hi, I'm Winky.

He just stood there. He said I'm Dale. No hair. No shade nothing, you know, I said goodness. I said I hear that you're a pretty good fighter. He said yeah, I Said you know, I've never seen a switchblade up close.

He said oh really. This thing comes out. I said, how does it work? It had a little spring and he said like this and the thing went like this and I saw this but I said, oh I said I understand you make this desire.

I said is it sharp? He said well, yes. He took his arming like this and I held all the hair guys On the floor. Yes, it is too, isn't it? I Talked to Dale and finally Dale started to open up a little bit to me.

He was really hurt really bit it. And he showed me his arm. I said it's big long scars all the way up his arm. I said what's that? He said you see this guy's my he peeled his shirt back and there's a big long one along his back.

Did somebody went at me with a knife and I turned sideways it carved a chunk out of my back. But he said that guy's never going to walk again. And I said come down. How'd you get into this? He said I'll tell you if you really want to know.

He said my dad came from a big family. He was drunk all the time. And he said one day he said to me Dale. You go out and get a job. Got enough mouths to feed in this place and he says you got to help keep me in booze.

I've kept you all these years you got get a job. He said I was 15 years old. I said I can't get a job. 15 years old and the dad said can you go out? And don't you come back till you got a job and he came back at the end of a week.

He tried everywhere. Nobody's gonna give a 15 year old kid a decent job. Come back. He said I can't do it. I can't find one and he said get your bags and pack and leave as far as I'm concerned I don't have you as a son anymore.

Dale said he cried that day and it's one of the last times he's ever cried. And he said he learned to sleep on the park benches of newspapers. He learned to break into empty apartment houses and live there until the people came back.

He learned to fight. He said I learned to mug people on the streets and live just like an animal off the streets. And he said I got really mad and he said the thing that put the real cap on it. He said one day my brother was walking through the park.

He said he was like you. He's a slightly religious guy. I guess that he was walking through the park and three guys jumped him because they didn't like the color of his skin. Said they murdered him killed him right there in the park and he said winky.

He died on my birthday and He said for every year of my life since then I put one of those XYZ Cows under the side for my brother and his young man. He's 21 years of age and he'd already murdered 21 people.

Last time I heard the police had caught up with Dale and he fled to Los Angeles. I don't know where he is today. He might be under the ground with a bullet in it. But I've never forgotten Dale. I'm thinking of this young man then as he stood there 16 and he watched him hang his brother for treason.

Just 16 years old 17 16. He stood there and he looked up and he got so mad and so angry and so hurt and so frustrated. He started to scream. He said I'll make them pay for this and One amused contemptuous sneering adult looked down at this teenage boy and said you'll make who pay.

He said never mind, I know. And that young kid Changed his name and they called him Lennon man of steel another in the early days of the formation of the early Russian Revolutionary Party. Another man in the party said I am deeply afraid of that young man Lennon and they said why said because I don't know of Anybody else in the world that I've ever met in revolutionary consciousness that thinks and dreams.

Nothing, but revolution 24 hours a day 24 hours a day. And what would you do if your parents were hypocrites? Let's say you lived in a family. While your parents were supposed to be church-type people.

Yet they got drunk so often and so angry with each other because they blew their marriage that instead of beating up on each other. They beat up on you because you were the child that reminded them of their blowing marriage.

What would you do if your parents were so angry at each other? They continually took out their frustrations on you? Maybe you know what it's like to come from a broken home. Our home was broken. Until the power of Jesus Christ started back together again.

Our parents were split us kids know what it's like to My sister and I to have to wake up early in the morning here our parents arguing fighting for two or three in the morning. But we saw the power of Jesus so our home back together again.

That's why today. I'm following God I know the depth of this revolution. I know one scrawny kid who came from this kind of home. He had a funny name. He was a junior shickle grubber his dad's name was mr. Shickle grubber, and he's just a skinny little kid.

You know you can imagine getting called shickle grubber. You know the names that they called you at school. And he and he was just scrawny. And he couldn't his parents keep beating up on him all the time and he got so mad and he got such a big Violent thing in his heart that he determined one day.

He said I'm gonna change. I'm gonna get some power to do something one day, and he grew himself a little Toothbrush mustache, and he changed his name, and we know him today. I called him Adolf Hitler.

I'm beginning to learn what makes young people revolutionary. And I don't think it's always because of the social causes. I think a lot of young people become revolutionaries because of hurt or bitterness or anger.

They feel in their heart to come off and out of their home and then they try to find something in the system they can use as a vehicle for violence and Here is Barabbas with his revolutionary group up on top of the hill.

And his mind is filled with hatred. I don't know what made Barabbas what he was like. Maybe it was any one of the number of things, but his mind is filled with what the Bible called a wine of violence.

It's violence can become like a wine you can drink it and your your head becomes so hairy and it becomes a. You know you can lose yourself in violence, and he's like this now I can see every well-trained muscle in his arm.

It's just aching for the clash of the conflict. He's about to experience and then down they come like a cloud of silent ghosts. They come down Around this little Roman garrison in the city now. They've made raids like this before and what they do is this they hit the Romans at an off time.

When they get a tip that this is their rest time and now I did that pick up in the door. They'll deal with a few centuries outside and then go inside and slaughter as fast as they can and then get out and split before They can mobilize.

And they've done this hit-and-run technique perfected many years before Che Guevara and my acetone and Barabbas gives a signal and then they go and kick the door and then they run into the Middle of place and all his men pour in with their swords flashing and suddenly is his pitch darkness inside.

And you know, they're all in there, you know, it's the swords and nothing it's all black in there and then suddenly a horn blares from outside from outside in the cobalt suns have come and then they hear the pounding of scores of Roman army sandals and they realize they've fallen into trap a well-planned well-laid well-executed trap and then from all these surrounding places and houses and streets come scores of Roman soldiers and Barabbas Fights his way out cuts his way through a couple of people.

He rushes down a street tree and he sees one of his men knocked out. He's a guy hit across the head and he sees his two lieutenants bang bang. They're full on the ground. He races up down the side road and as he's going down the road there suddenly from behind He thinks he's made it and then an arm Roman arm drops down the back of his neck and the edge of it the end of the sword.

Half just goes wham right in the back of his head and he blacks out. And then the next thing he sees when he comes to and his eyes begin to clear. There's the top of a Roman jail cell and then Barabbas his heart comes a still this is it.

This is the end. This is the end of me. And this is the end of what we tried to do. You see that's the trouble with revolutions of blood. They begin in hatred and violence and they feed on hatred and violence.

They start off and with kids who have burning issues in their hearts and they wind up with kids burning bodies. People first of all go around throwing hot words and they wind up throwing hot bullets and.

The trouble with many of the revolutions is this they start up just simply with words they throw taunts and then they end up throwing bombs and. They feed on violence and they thrive on violence and they must survive on violence.

Radicalizing Institutions Through Chaos

Let me show you how to radicalize a campus. Karl Marx believed he discovered a historical law. He believed that if you created chaos That out of the culture that was under attack a counter force would be formed and then when these two came into collision a revolution would take place and That third force that came out of that clash would move the whole world closer to universal Marxism or to communism.

For the time when all people could share all things in common Communism originally was designed a way to make people unselfish by changing society. Now an easy way to radicalize the campus is simply you come in create as much chaos as you can March for issues or whatever and that the board of People are running the thing and the president says listen now.

We can give you the we can give you the right to paint your dorms blue. But you can't park your box wagons on the Chapel roof. It's just not done around here thing. And then you can mark we must have the right to park.

This is you Chauvinist, you know you and you can give all this radical language see and then finally that he says no I'm afraid we're going to have to draw some lines boys and girls and then eventually it can bust into the Dean's office.

Throw him out the window. You know like doctoral you like to being cigars with burning doctoral theses and stuff and you've got a confrontation. And guess what's going to happen? Why the Dean will call up the military man?

Oh, you must come over something right now about 80 of the campus is wandering around laughing. See they make sure a brick or two because every kid likes throwing bricks. You know did you like throwing bricks windows and stuff if you could get away with.

I did. Yeah, I didn't get away with it often a lot of kids are just wandering around. Let's say there's only 10 of the radicals in this thing doing this thing a lot of kids join in holding a sign and throw A brick or two you know for fun, then suddenly in comes a military.

Violent confrontation a couple of kids throw a brick or two at the military and in that second you get something like happen in Kent State and Then a violent reaction comes from the students. Maybe these radicals have got something after all thing closes you get this Thing closes with no maybe 70 of the campus now move towards the radical cause it's very simple.

That's the way it works. So you say well, I don't you know, there's not very much. Going on at campuses at the time being I believe that's a calm before the storm. We're about to see a revolution take place in this land unless God helps us.

Cultural Music and the Threat of Revolution

Now the media is being full of it. We have no excuse for knowing that it's coming. I believe I'm going to show you now some songs. That have talked about this for a long time the violence revolutions about to break out over this land.

There's a group called Steppenwolf. Probably one of the top Acid and hard rock groups in the United States.

Song is very easy for a junior high schooler to sing.

It's very you know clap clap clap, you know, you can do it as a chorus, you know power clap clap. You're very simple song and the words aren't particularly profound. But here at once and they'll stick in your head and you remember them and this is a good marching song.

I believe what's happening is gradually. This is pretty recent just in the last year. This song has been I believe what's happened Is we're gradually moving up towards a mobilization. I think Confrontation in this country will begin when people finally Start a street march and then they're attempted to be arrested and this will trigger the violence.

And this is John Lennon on television last night an interview the big cabot show. He talked about His songs. He said I'm a political revolutionary, but I'm a revolutionary artist. I used my Artistry to help push on the revolution and here is a prime example of music used as a powerful tool for revolution.

And then lastly.

We've seen a lot of minority groups mobilized against the larger white group. First it was the black minority group and next the brown of the Chicano minority group. And then finally that very large minority group that have been ignored.

But every time you switch on the television you feel them getting shot and killed.

Notice what the ways of life are by the way. Tomahawk and the Bowie night. That is the word lock. I think we've had ample warning.

Divine Judgment and Christian Obedience

It is to this day the day of revolution of the young radical. Look and wait. And I think it will come. When will it come. Will come only if Christians Do not obey God. God has done some beautiful things.

He said in the scriptures if I pronounce judgment against the nation and that nation turn Retent then I will reverse my judgment. He said again if I pronounce blessing for a nation and the nation does not obey my voice.

Then there'll be trouble for the nation. The new left is trying to bring this off as we said 1972. I believe it's time. We had Christians to infiltrate to get right inside the radical consciousness and to change it with God's kind of revolution.

I'm going to share with you now here about what Barabbas saw. Here he is in prison, and I'm I've seen so many kids go into the radical movement. They get. Sometimes shocked sometimes killed and it's getting scary now in the in the movement.

A young man talking to me just two weeks ago. He said they led somebody to the Lord up in Canada. He looked scared and he looked frightened and he looked very angry. But they spent a whole couple of days with him and finally they led him to Christ.

And they said to him. What are you what were you doing? He said well listen. He said you just got to me in time. He said I've just finished an intensive guerrilla training program, and he said for graduation.

They gave me a gun and they said all right you go home, and you prove you're discipleship go home and teach your parents. And these Christian kids hit him right on the street led him to Christ. I Think that's one good way to bust the revolution.

By getting right inside and changing at a time because you're seeing this revolution of violence cannot survive unless it has enemy. And I know one person who can change enemy and his name is Jesus. Here is Barabbas and He's put in prison now.

The Cross as the True Revolution

He knows the way he's going to die. They're going to crucify him and Crucifixion is probably the most fiendish way ever invented by sick minds to put another man to death by execution. The Persians apparently invented it and the Romans had borrowed it from them and polished it with their military genius until it become a fiendish science with them.

Barabbas had seen all this before because he'd seen probably other people died. And what they did is they take a cross of wood sometimes a t-shirt piece there to hold the man's hands down. They'd hammer nail through through his wrist through his hand nail him down there and of course the this would send just bolts of pain right up into his mind and then gradually they After they'd finished hammering his wrists in they'd lift this man up on the cross and they'd drop it into the hole and often their bones would be dislocated as they dropped in and they hung there and Gradually as the blood began to drain from their hands this Raging first their tongue began to swell up sometimes it took a strong man three days to die in a cross.

One kill them was not the pain in their arms so much. It was this see. In order to breathe out you have to push up. With your legs like this and across and they had to constantly push up like this to breathe so they get.